I know the playoffs have only just started but I can't help myself from looking forward to next season. With Lee now out injured, it's unlikely that we'll advance past Denver in the 1st round. But it's not all doom and gloom for me. The Warriors have had a great season and they deserve their place in the playoffs. Congratulations to the team, coaching staff and front office .

Now looking ahead to next season, I can only see good things –• Lee and Curry have established themselves as stars in this league.• Bogut gets some time to rest his ankle and hopefully get back to being fully fit.• Thompson and the rookies will continue to improve.• Rush will be back to push for the starting SF spot and become the designated wing defender that we desperately need.• Jefferson and Biedrins’ massive contracts will be traded or expired.

Now, what else do we need to do to improve the team and become a championship contender?• Hopefully Jack gives up on trying to become a starter for another team and realises that he can be a pretty good 6th man for the rest of his career and signs another contract with the Warriors. With Landry, Barnes/Rush and Jack, we'll have a 2nd unit as good as any in the league.• Do we try and trade Barnes and Jefferson/Biedrins for an elite defensive SF? I believe 32 was pushing this point last off season to try and get Iguodala. The Nuggets got him and look how that turned out for them. What players are out there that we’d have any chance of getting? Deng, Kidd-Gilchrist, DeRozan, Harkless? Are they better defenders than Rush? Who are the elite wing defenders in the NBA? Blackfoot might have some stats to point out who they are. Paul George and Nicolas Batum are good but they’re not likely to be traded. What about someone like Shane Battier?

Season isn't over even though it looks unlikely we advance. Something to keep in mind. We would have won that game if Lee did not play. Obviously he isn't going to keep going 4/15. But the fact Lee and Curry played like **** and we lost by two off a ****ing lay up should not breed pessissim.

Ringo wrote:Sorry Blackfoot. I didn’t mean to sound pessimistic. I’ll leave that to Martin . Perhaps I was being premature talking about next season already. I’m just so excited about the future of this team.

Blackfoot, being a stats guru, I'd like to know your thoughts on who do you rate in the top tier of defensive small forward/guards in the NBA? And, are any those players within reach of the Warriors? Or are you satisified with what we have in that department with Rush and Barnes? I'm satisfied with the number of scorers on this team but I think we could use someone who is athletic enough to defend the oppositions best forward or guard and still be able to knock down an open 3 when the opportunity presents itself. I don't want to see Draymond Green defending against Andre Miller ever again.

I feel real good about this season. With Rush, we would have won over 50 games easily. I was very nervous in the middle of the year because it's not often that we make the playoffs. Here are some things the Warriors will need to address...

1. They have too many centers, but not enough mobile big men. In fact they don't even have a single man on that roster that is long and mobile at the same time. I feel that the Warriors would pay themselves dividends if they got a long and mobile player that could play power forward and center, skillfully. Having a 3rd guy on the team like an Ibaka, Derek Favors, Jason Thompson, or even a Gallarri type guy could help them. They have a hard time guarding bigs that can shoot jumpers. Bogut is for buckets near the rim. I would take any one of those guys over Biedrins. And we could have got someone good if we didn't pay Biedrins 60 mill. So it will help the Warriors when Biedrins contract expires. Having Ezeli is good. We still need more size and depth at power forward. I don't mind keeping Landry, but unless Festus can play power forward, we still need more size at the 4 against certain teams. Rod Brooks says he would trade Lee for Jefferson. I don't know about that, but the good thing is that the warriors have options.

2. They need to resign Jarrett Jack and would be making a mistake not to.

3. Barnes needs to continue to improve. Not only attacking the rim carefully, but improve his mid range game and jumper.

If the Warriors added someone like Derek Favors, it would do them a lot of good. I'm not saying they can sign him realistically, but I was just using his type as an example. Bringing back Rush and Jack next year is imperative. The Warriors have wasted money in the past on guys like Biedrins, let's hope they spend it on the right guys.

I'm going to use Favors just as an example and show you what our lineup would look like next year.. They might have to amnesty Jefferson, I'm not sure. This is just an example to show our potential...

Ringo wrote:Blackfoot, being a stats guru, I'd like to know your thoughts on who do you rate in the top tier of defensive small forward/guards in the NBA? And, are any those players within reach of the Warriors? Or are you satisified with what we have in that department with Rush and Barnes? I'm satisfied with the number of scorers on this team but I think we could use someone who is athletic enough to defend the oppositions best forward or guard and still be able to knock down an open 3 when the opportunity presents itself. I don't want to see Draymond Green defending against Andre Miller ever again.

Best defenders for the wing

Iggy, Tony Allen, and Avery Bradley.

Only Avery Bradley is out of reach. Iggy is too expensive for what he brings and I don't know the market value of Tony.

Next season = options and opportunity. I say keep the team together for some continuity / chemistry reasons that have obviously benefited the team, in the form of making the playoffs. So I wouldn't underestimate how important it is to keep everyone together and re-sign Jack, let Bogut get to 100%, B Rush back, and continue the development of Thompson and Barnes. I'd keep the nucleus together for anything short of a difference making Superstar -- because they're set up to win now (playoffs at least) and win in the future if they continue to develop.

Ringo wrote:Blackfoot, being a stats guru, I'd like to know your thoughts on who do you rate in the top tier of defensive small forward/guards in the NBA? And, are any those players within reach of the Warriors? Or are you satisified with what we have in that department with Rush and Barnes? I'm satisfied with the number of scorers on this team but I think we could use someone who is athletic enough to defend the oppositions best forward or guard and still be able to knock down an open 3 when the opportunity presents itself. I don't want to see Draymond Green defending against Andre Miller ever again.

Best defenders for the wing

Iggy, Tony Allen, and Avery Bradley.

Only Avery Bradley is out of reach. Iggy is too expensive for what he brings and I don't know the market value of Tony.

All three of those men can't be had. Denver and Boston realize the value of their players and Memphis will only trade Allen for a King's ransom (like Thompson); they won't give him away for equal or lesser value because he brings so much to the table.

The real question is, can this roster get to the next level with the perimeter defenders it currently has? Does Rush's comeback fix everything? Is Klay Thompson better than slightly above average on D? Can Barnes develop a grittiness on defense that utilizes his athleticism? How far away is this roster?

Because, to my mind, a perimeter stopper puts this team in elite company. We've seen, firsthand, the effect Iguodala has had on Denver, even though they loved Afflalo and Karl employed Harrington well. We'd need to make a similar sacrifice to get something; somewhere along the lines of Barnes/Thompson and a viable bench player for Luol Deng. The Bulls can get defense out of anybody and they need a shooter.

Deng or no, my belief is that we need outside help from an established NBA defender.

He's making $4M this season. He's proved that he can play in the league and could be a starter on some teams. He's also 29 years old. If there is a team willing to offer him more money and a long term contract, he's going to bolt and he was a big part of this team success by adding front court depth.

Jarrett Jack

He's a unrestricted free agent who opened some eyes last year when he was in New Orleans as a starter. He may have been a bench player this season, but he's played starter minutes at nearly 30 mpg. He's also 29 years old and will be looking for a long term financial investment from a team. I'm not sure that would be the Warriors, especially if he'll be looking for a raise from his $5.5M salary.

If those two opt out, which I expect they will, then the Warriors payroll will be at around $66M which still puts them over the cap. Without a draft pick, that leaves them the mid-level exception to replace both Landry and Jack.

Then they have the 2 expiring contracts of Biedrins and Jefferson which equals $20M, but that usually means taking back a questionable contract. It worked out well when they traded the expiring contract of Dale Davis and Speedy Claxton for Baron Davis, so can they pull it off gain?

I disagree with we need more perimeter defense. Teams get to the rim the fourth fewest against us so there is little penetration happening and they jack up a ton of threes, which they hit at a very low percentage (34 percent, 5th best mark in the league.)

Harrison Barnes is far from a sure thing. The pessimist in me has cited Marvin Williams a few times this year and now that the season is over, speculative depression has evolved into an unfortunate science. Aside from a slight uptick in 3-point percentage, Barnes and Williams' rookie lines are chillingly similar. Both are athletic studs, both hesitate to take over offensively... They have a tough case of Calbert Cheany disorder. The SF spot was there for the taking this season and Barnes hardly claimed it; he merely inherited it as the most physically attractive candidate.